Vehicle axle equipped with torsional suspension elements
AssigneeCompagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin - Michelin & Cie
InventorJacques Foulquier
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An axle for vehicles having a suspended body, the axle having a crossmember connecting two arms. The arms are each joined to a shaft defining a pivot axis of the arms on the body. The crossmember allows for a relative clence of said suspension arms. The axle further contains two supports. A resilient suspension joint is inserted between each support and each shaft, each resilient joint being integral, without sliding, both with the support and the shaft. Each resilient joint contains holes defining a position of less radial rigidity arranged approximately vertically.
Claims15
An axle for a vehicle having a suspended body, said axle comprising two suspension arms, a crossmember, each of said arms being coupled to a shaft defining a pivot axis of said arm relative to the body, each of said arms bearing a stub axle intended for receiving a wheel, said crossmember connecting said arms and allowing a relative clearance of said suspension arms, two supports having reference surfaces for mounting the axle on said body, and a resilient suspension joint between each support and the corresponding shaft, said resilient joint having an elastomeric sleeve which is integral, without sliding, with both the support and said corresponding shaft, the relative movements between said shaft and said support being absorbed by internal deformation at said sleeve, said sleeve containing at least one hole in the resilient joint so as to define a reference axis perpendicular to the pivot axis, the radial rigidity of said joint being minimal along said reference axis, and said pivot axis of said arm relative to the body being oriented generally parallel to the axis of rotation of the wheel defined by the stub axle.
An element forming a resilient suspension joint and torsion spring, comprising an inner frame, an outer frame, an elastomeric sleeve arranged between the inner frame and the outer frame, integrated without possible sliding on those frames, said outer and inner frames having reference surfaces for mounting on a part rigidly coupled to a suspended body and on a part rigidly coupled to a suspension arm for a wheel, characterized in that the sleeve contains at least one hole and means for marking the prestressing to be applied to the sleeve in the nominal load position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.